Phishman – Tech

Finally I found some time to post my new custom build. I’m building my workstation for 3D rendering, graphic and video design, gaming and high resource intensive math and cryptography calculations and benchmarks. I’m excited to perform some of my planned OpenCL and ImageMagick tests…

Build Details: I was looking for motherboard with a many PCI-E slots, because I need to run 6 x Sapphire 7970 Vapor-X 3GB version. I found excellent deal for used P6T7 WS on eBay with set of memory, memory fan, CPU and CPU fan.

ORIGINAL CONFIG (with the parts from eBay)
Motherboard: P6T7 WS SuperComputer 7 x PCI-E x16 (4-way CrossFireX x16 or 7 x PCI-E x8).
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-920 Processor (8M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 4.80 GT/s Intel® QPI)
Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 + Memory fan
SSD: OCZ Vertex 120GB
CPU FAN: ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler
GPU: 6 x SAPPHIRE Vapor-X VXSR Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB 384-bit GDDR5
PSU: 2 x ZALMAN 1250 Platinum 1250W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Modular Active

LATEST CONFIG
Motherboard: P6T7 WS SuperComputer 7 x PCI-E 2.0 x16 (4-way CrossFireX x16 or 7 x PCI-E x8).
CPU: Intel® Xeon® Processor X5690 12M Cache, 3.46 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI
Memory Kit 1: HyperX Savage – DDR3 – 32 GB: 4 x 8 GB – DIMM 240-pin – unbuffered
Memory Kit 2: HyperX Savage – DDR3 – 16 GB: 2 x 8 GB – DIMM 240-pin – unbuffered
Total Memory: 48GB
SSD: SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 512GB SSD PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive
SSD PCI-E Adapter: Angelbird Wings PX1 PCIe x4 M.2 Adapter and 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD Kit
CPU FAN: ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler
GPU: 2 x SAPPHIRE Vapor-X VXSR Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB 384-bit GDDR5
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 P2 1600 Watt 80 Plus Platinum ATX Fully Modular Power Supply

This is going to be no case build (no case for now) until I decide how much space I’ll need with all the 6 GPUs and dual PSU, and then I’m planning to build custom rack.
I’m very creative and I love to generate new ideas every single minute. So here we go, yeah I’m getting excited too! Let’s build some funny legs…
For now I’ve got some basic parts to build custom motherboard legs/stands to put some clearance between the motherboard and the table: 4 x Push-on F-connectors for coaxial cable (Ideal RG-6) for motherboard feet. Machine screws 6 x M3 25.4mm length metric (US standard #6-32 x 1″) Flat Head Phillips, 8 x Machine Screw Nuts M3 (US standard #6-32). Shepherd Vynil Bumpers 10mm (3/8″).

UPGRADES:

Stage 1: removed/upgraded hardware:
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-920 Processor (8M Cache, 2.66 GHz, 4.80 GT/s Intel® QPI) – Upgrade to Intel Xeon W3690 (…which died later. I killed this basta’d – OC overheat!)
PSU: 2 x ZALMAN 1250 Platinum 1250W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS PLATINUM Certified Modular Active – Died, switched to EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 P2

Stage 2: removed/upgraded hardware
SSD: OCZ Vertex 120GB – Upgrade to Smasung EVO 860 256GB SATA 3
Memory: Added additional Corsair Dominator kit 2 x 4GB 1600 (total 6 x 2GB)
One of the old Dominator modules died. It was replaced!

Stage 3: removed/upgraded hardware:
Motherboard: Got a brand spanking new same (barely used) motherboard P6T7 WS (free)
Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 + Memory fan – Upgrade to 48 GB HyperX Savage
SSD: Smasung EVO 860 256GB SATA 3 – upgraded to SAMSUNG 950 PRO M.2 512GB SSD PCI-Express 3.0 x4 Internal Solid State Drive
SSD PCI-E Adapter: Angelbird Wings PX1 PCIe x4 M.2 Adapter and 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD Kit
CPU: Intel Xeon W3690 – CPU died, switched to Intel Xeon X5690
PCI-E USB 3.1: StarTech.com USB 3.1 PCIE Card – 5 Port – 1x USB-C – 2x USB-A – 1x 2 Port IDC – Internal USB Header Expansion – USB C PCIe Card (PEXUSB312EIC)
Upgraded Case Fans: (old case fans started rattling)
4 x Cougar CFD14HBR 140mm CPU Fan Cooling (Red LED)
2 x Cougar CFD12HBR 120mm CPU Fan Cooling (Red LED)
HDD:
Drive #1 – HGST HDN724030ALE640 (2794 GB)
Drive #2 – WDC WD30EZRX-00D8PB0 (2794 GB)
Drive #3 – WDC WD40EFRX-68WT0N0 (3726 GB)
Drive #4 – HP SAS EF0300FARMU (279 GB)
Case: CoolerMaster Storm Trooper Black

March 2020 PSU UPDATE: Two PSUs EVGA SuperNOVA 1600 P2 Platinums have died. Right now the system is running on Corsair RM850x Gold.

Stage 4:
P9X79 WS is arriving in few days (5/25/2020).
The plan is to replace the motherboard and the CPU!
Considering those two CPUs Intel Xeon E5-2690 V2 and Intel Xeon E5-2697 V2
To be continued…

Stage 1 Photos:
I had no full tower case that could fit this extended motherboard, so it was running on a table for a while.
I came up with stand-offs (legs) made of push-on f-connectors.

Stage 3:
Love the red colors!